Trade the 6-Pack for a Six-Pack
Just today I was perusing a popular fitness website and saw a woman who was eating one meal a day to try to get her eating under control. The problem is that, according to her, she is so hungry when she finally decides to eat her one meal, that she eats everything in sight. I’m sure that you have heard it said that “Abs are made in the kitchen.” No truer words have ever been spoken. We all have six-pack abs! They are usually hiding underneath fat. By eating a specified number of calories that are right for your body and avoiding empty calories, we can shed that fat with no fad diets or weird changes to our daily lives. This woman is still overeating although she is going for long periods of time without eating. We seem to think that we have to suffer to be healthy. We don’t. While discipline and perseverance are required, we can eat healthy food and stay full and satisfied almost all of the time if we always eat nutritionally dense foods. These are simply foods that are high in nutrition with no empty calories. A breakfast of oats and eggs will sustain you with dense nutrition while a honeybun and coffee won’t make the grade. As soon as the simple carbs from that pastry quickly begin to fade from your bloodstream, you’ll be desperately hungry for real food but, if you don’t have a real food habit, you will just continue to self-medicate with garbage and the cycle will continue. Make good nutrition your number one healthy habit. Go to the Calorie Counter Pro to determine how many calories that you need to eat. Always get your doctor’s approval before beginning any weight loss program. We usually advise aiming for about a one pound loss per week.
Are You Serious?
DON’T SMOKE. While I like to tell people what actions they can take to try to be healthy, this is one time that I must tell you something that you should NOT do. There is an endless list of the ways that smoking negatively affects your health. You are lying to yourself if you say that you are trying to be healthy and continue in this profoundly negative behaviour. Excessive alcohol consumption has to be on this list also. I don’t drink alcohol because it’s a source of empty calories and simple carbohydrates. I want excellent nutrition for every calorie consumed and alcohol does not have it. Get real and get clean and sober.
Get Active!
The minimum amount of exercise that is necessary to be healthy is generally considered to be about 3.5 hours of moderate to vigorous physical activity each week. Exercise helps control your weight, reduces your risk of heart disease, helps your body manage blood sugar and insulin levels, improves your mood and helps keep your mind sharp as you age. Always get your doctor’s approval before you get active. Exercise can even help you quit smoking by reducing the cravings associated with smoking cessation. It will also help you burn some of the extra calories that you may eat when you quit and help you to keep your weight under control at a time when many people pack on the pounds and think that it is excused because they quit smoking. Exercise will also strengthen your bones and muscles and reduce your risk of falls. It will improve your sleep and increase your chances of living longer. A key component of finding a successful exercise for your self is to do something that is convenient and that you like or at least tolerate well. If you hate gyms, for God’s sake, don’t join one! Exercise at home.
Seek Stability
Maintain a normal, healthy weight. If you eat nutritionally dense foods in the amounts needed to provide the number of calories that your body needs, this will happen naturally. Fad diets and stringently imposed rules that make you miserable and starve your body of much needed energy and nutrients will not give you a stable weight. You may lose a lot of weight with this voodoo but you will most likely gain it back with a few pounds to go with it. As you have heard, “You didn’t gain it in a week, you’re not going to lose it in a week.” Be patient and work hard. It will happen. There are no shortcuts. Most fads are merely ways to keep overeating your trigger foods. In the case of the One Meal A Day plan, you starve for about 20 hours and binge for 4. Now seriously, do you think that you will binge on lean protein and veggies? Probably not. Odds are that you will feel deprived and also entitled to eat whatever you fancy because, after all, you’re SUFFERING, right?
Chill
I don’t know if it’s too much reality T.V. or all those fat cells making too much estrogen, but dear Lord, nowadays people do love their drama. Stop it. Life is dramatic enough without you adding extra stress into the equation. Stress, whether real or imagined, causes a release of cortisol. Cortisol contributes to belly fat and insulin resistance and raises your blood pressure. It also makes you act like an idiot. Seek peace. At David’s Way we teach you to “Make Your World Small” (David Yochim) This simply means to cut out excess people and events that are not positive. Only allow supportive people into you life. Avoid other people’s drama and make your world as positive and productive as possible. Some might say, “Cut the dead wood.” If it’s not doing anything for you, remove it from your life, especially remove anything negative. Your stress level will plummet. I don’t answer texts or phone calls that have a negative impact on my mind. You truly have the power to create your life, so create something beautiful.
Pull That Sweet Tooth!
Added sugars cause inflammation throughout your body and pack on the pounds. Inflammation is the beginning of almost all disease. Excess weight exacerbates and aggravates disease and dysfunction throughout your body. We have recipes that will satisfy any sweet craving that you may have. Just search for your favorite dessert and you very well may find a “No Sugar Added” version here on the website. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, leave a comment and we’ll find what you want. You can also contact us through the “Contact” tab and we’ll get back to you. There is no fee for this service. We do what we do because we want to change the world to be a healthier place to live. Our habits create our world. Make them good.